Opening day at Bogle Park for Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas opens its home schedule Feb. 27-March 1 with the Holiday Inn-NWA Razorback Invitational at Bogle Park. The Razorbacks (7-7) will welcome teams from Ball State, Bradley, South Dakota State and Wichita State. It will be Arkansas’ first regular season competition on its new home field, Bogle Park. All Arkansas games will be broadcast on KXUA (88.3 FM).“I know our team is excited about opening Bogle Park,” head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. “It’s good to be at home playing on our field this weekend. We’re a little road weary, too. This is going to be an exciting weekend for our team.”The Hogs will close out the opening day of play with games against Bradley and Ball State. Those contests are scheduled for 3:45 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. On day two, Arkansas plays Wichita State at 11:15 a.m. and returns for a 3:45 matchup with South Dakota State.Whitney Cloer continues to lead the team in hitting through three weekends of play with a .381 batting average. She also leads Arkansas with six doubles which is tied for the top mark in the Southeastern Conference. Jessica Bachkora is second on the team hitting .333 and leads the Razorbacks with three home runs, 12 RBI and 12 runs scored.In the circle, Arkansas is led by the four wins and three saves by Miranda Dixon. The junior pitcher has two complete games, a shutout and carries a 2.72 ERA through 46.1 innings pitched.

Ball State (2-3) comes into play after opening its season with the Georgia Softball Classic, where the Cardinals picked up wins over UNC-Greensboro and IUPUI. Ball State has won the only other meeting with Arkansas, a 4-2 victory during the Razorbacks’ inaugural season in 1997.

Bradley (6-3) has defeated a nationally ranked team this season, a 2-0 win over then-No. 25 Kansas. At the plate, Jacqueline Vitale is hitting .429 to lead the team. The Braves have a team ERA of 1.64, led by Ashley Birdsong with a 1.45 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 29.0 innings pitched. This will be the first meeting between Arkansas and Bradley.

South Dakota State (2-11) has two players hitting over .400, Ashley Durazo (.425) and Brittany Postma (.405). They share the team lead with 17 hits each and Durazo has a team-high 11 RBI. The Jackrabbits have never played Arkansas.

Wichita State (5-8) is hitting .292 as a team, led by Kara L’Huillier and her .436 batting average. The Razorbacks lead the all-time series, 4-3, but the Shockers have won the last three. The teams last met during the 2007 season, a 3-1 victory for Wichita State in Fayetteville.

“This tournament has a good field,” Pinkerton said. “The teams seem to be hitting their stride right now so we should see some good competition this weekend.”

The final day of the Holiday Inn-NWA Razorback Invitational will feature the four teams with the best records through the first two days of play. The clubs with the third- and fourth-best record will meet in the third-place game at 10 a.m., while the two teams with the best records will play at 12:30 p.m. in the championship game.

For more information and live stats, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

2009 Holiday Inn-NWA Razorback InvitationalFriday, February 27Game 1 (9 a.m.): South Dakota State vs. Wichita StateGame 2 (11:15 a.m.): South Dakota State vs. BradleyGame 3 (1:30 p.m.): Ball State vs. Wichita StateGame 4 (3:45 p.m.): Bradley vs. ARKANSASGame 5 (6 p.m.): Ball State vs. ARKANSAS

Saturday, February 28Game 6 (9 a.m.): Wichita State vs. BradleyGame 7 (11:15 a.m.): Wichita State vs. ARKANSASGame 8 (1:30 p.m.): Bradley vs. Ball StateGame 9 (3:45 p.m.): South Dakota State vs. ARKANSASGame 10 (6 p.m.): South Dakota State vs. Ball State

Sunday, March 1Game 11 (10 a.m.): Consolation game*Game 12 (12:30 p.m.): Championship game** – to be determined by record against rest of the field

Download: 2009 notes.pdf